Originally Posted by
bradpaul
You are right in that there is no "one size fits all" in either Club Dues or Initiation Fees.
At the club I usually fly at the rent for the land is $6,000 a year and is very reasonable for acreage in Central Florida. Add year around mowing costs, gas, repairs and depreciation on the mower and that is another $2,000. Add other expenses such as maintenance on the shade structure, electricity, water, fences, starting benches and it all adds up to just about $9,000 a year. With 75 members we have dues at $150 a year and that leaves about $30 per member to the capital improvements / field fund. The initiation fee is $100 and that goes to the capital improvements / field fund.
A given here in Central Florida is that unless you are way way out in the rural countryside some "do-gooder" neighbor (probably moved to Florida from New Jersey) will think that RC is both noisy and unsafe and it will end up with the club losing it's field. Don't ask me how I know.......................... The set up of a new field, grass runway, electricity, water and structures will run at least $5,000 so we try to keep at least that in the capital improvements / field fund.
Anyway that's all based on experience .................................................. ....
Brad
That is exactly what I mean. This would be relevant to the area and costs. I would expect to pay more for a club like you have due to costs. 150-200 makes sense. You can take your annual costs, how much you want in the "kitty" for yearly improvements, etc., and divide it all up tally the number of members and rate the membership fee needed to keep things running smoothly.
I wonder how many clubs keep that on the up and up? Something tells me some clubs take advantage, yet that is just speculation on my part and could be totally off base. At least the two clubs I am in share all financial information and nothing is withheld from the membership so you either join or pass it up. Initiation fees still pluck my nerves for some reason - maybe I am just tight, or it seems like an unjust expense to me.
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